Jobless claims rise in latest week

Second consecutive rise after steady decline

By

CorbettB. Daly

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- The number of people filing claims for unemployment insurance rose for the second consecutive week after a steady decline, the Labor Department said Thursday.

In the latest week, claims rose 13,000 to 378,000, the highest level since October. The four-week average rose by 2,250 to 364,750. Initial claims are volatile and economists consider the four-week average a better barometer of labor market conditions. Read the full report.

The average number of initial claims has declined by about 50,000 over the past three months, as the weak U.S. labor market gained strength.

"This rise in claims, which we expected, has everything to do with severe seasonals and nothing to do with the underlying pace of layoffs, which is continuing to fall," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics.

The claims data measure the number of workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and were eligible for unemployment benefits. They reflect layoffs, not hiring.

"Unemployment insurance data tend to get very choppy around this time of the year. Moreover, the anecdotal noise on labor markets has been increasingly upbeat," said Steve Stanley, economist at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets.

The number of workers still collecting benefits also rose slightly in the last week to 3.3 million. The four-week moving average fell to 3.4 million, the lowest since February.

The insured unemployment rate remained at 2.6 percent.

In separate reports, the Labor Department said prices of imported goods and services rose 0.4 percent in November led by a 1.1 percent rise in oil prices. Read the full story.

Separately, the Commerce Department said auto sales rebounded in November, helping to propel U.S. retail sales higher by 0.9 percent. Excluding the 2.6 percent jump in auto sales, retail sales rose 0.4 percent for the second month in a row. Read the full story.

In a fourth report, the Commerce Department said business inventories rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent for the second month in a row, while sales increased 0.7 percent. The inventory-to-sales ratio dropped to a record low 1.35. Read the full story.

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